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The Canadian Champion, Friday, September 14, 2007 - A5 Bus driver criticized for leaving sick girl with strangers t A By Melanie Hennessey CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF Laidlaw Transport is in damage con- trol mode this week after one of its bus drivers left a sick Milton girl in the care of strangers. The situation, which happened last Friday, has made six-year-old Charlotte Delisle's parents angry and worried about al the horrible 'what ifs' that could've happened if the woman their daughter was left with hadn't been a Good Samaritan who returned her home safely "The nice mom who walked her home could've been anyone," said Charlottes mother, Cameo. "Its easy to see if any of those what ifs had come true, a lot more action would be taken right now" It all started when Charlotte boarded the bus Friday morning with an upset stomach, since she's been nervous ahmt h ( im . e h got off at a stop in front of Hawthorne Village School to clean herself off. This caught the attention of a group of moms at the stop with their children, like Anne Harris. "We said to her, 'Do you want to go home? She told us her mom is home and gave us her address," she said. "We told the bus driver we'll take care of it. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn't have done that, but it was our motherly instincts." Another woman in the group, who wishes to remain anonymous, then walked Charlotte home. Harris insisted the bus driver is a really nice man who didn't abandon Charlotte at the bus stop. Despite that, Laidlaw Education Services general manager Rich Bagdonas said the busing company is at fault. "Once a child is in our care, we're situation, our policies were not fol- lowed." He said Laidlaw is now reinforcing its policy to all of its drivers to prevent similar incidents from happening again. "We're obviously concerned for the safety and well-being of all students we transport," he said. Bagdonas added Laidlaw would also like to get a message out to parents to let bus drivers know if theres some- thing they should be looking out for, like a child who doesn't feel well. While he said action will be taken - with one possible course of action being reassignment of the bus driver to a different route - he said Laidlaw is still evaluating what's appropriate. He noted the driver has been with the company for a number of years and doesn't have any other prior instances i lie Delises are calling lor a better system to be put in place to deal with situations like these. Halton District School Board (HDSB) spokesperson Mamie Denton shared similar sentiments, suggesting that in the future bus drivers could use their two-way radios to contact the dis- patcher and discuss what action should be taken. "Our board contracts with Laidlaw and we have expectations as the recipi- ent of a service," she said. "Safety is the priority when it comes to school bus transportation." About 15,000 HDSB students are bused to school daily in Halton. Melanie Hennessey can be reached at mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampion.com. Wa l c . .- - w80 I i M8 0%, 1. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : : : : :M ILTO N Wàlla ££MON-RS M PONTIAC •BU!CK •CADILLACFR-M I "ie FRI-SAT94 ~1 allace PONTIAC 0 B U i C K é CA,'--,'l LLAC